With teammates like Woodley lurking, Hector Lombard makes case for UFC title shot

A down-on-himself Hector Lombard told MMAjunkie Radio he isn’t going to keep quiet when it comes to his desire to fight for the UFC welterweight title.

Although exasperated by the reception of his most recent performance, the 36-year-old fighter said he will ignore critics and make his case for No. 1 contender.

“I want to get busy, and I want to work hard this year,” Lombard said today. “I don’t have that many years left.”

The events of this past weekend brought a shift in perspective for the veteran, who initially planned to step aside if his American Top Team stablemate Robbie Lawler beat Johny Hendricks to claim the vacant welterweight belt at UFC 171.

Lombard (34-4-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) fought Jake Shields (29-7-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) on the same card this past Saturday at Dallas’ American Airlines Center and was talked about as potential contender with a win. He said prior to the fight that he would not face a teammate and would instead aim for bouts in the middleweight class. But now that the strap is in Hendricks’ hands, he said there’s no reason he shouldn’t vie for a title shot.

“I love Robbie,” Lombard said. “He’s a great guy; I have a lot of respect for him. But he doesn’t have [the title], so I’ve got to go for it. I’ve been representing American Top Team for six years; I’m one of the oldest in there, and fighting at the highest level.

“So I don’t have to let anybody scream, ‘I need the title,’ and I’ve got to sit back and be quiet. That doesn’t have to happen.”

Already, there are other welterweights making noise. Tyron Woodley, who beat Carlos Condit in UFC 171’s co-main, made an argument for why he should be Hendricks’ first title challenger. And Nick Diaz, who’s been retired for one year, is on the hunt despite back-to-back losses.

Lombard, though, has a rebuttal for several of the names that have been tossed around as potential contenders.

“Tyron is my teammate, but look at the guys that I beat. I beat two guys that beat him.

“Rory MacDonald, he lost against Lawler, and before that fight, it was an extremely boring fight. But because he is Rory, no one says anything about it.

“If that would have been me, I would have been fired from the UFC. But because it’s him, it’s a different story. And then he goes and he loses the fight against (Robbie Lawler), and then he beats Demian Maia, who just came from a guy that I beat. My name is never in the picture.”

That slighted feeling is at the root of Lombard’s frustration with his position in the sport. He said he is constantly the target of hating fans and frequently gets criticized where other fighters don’t.

At UFC 171, several MMA pundits said Lombard hadn’t produced the kind of performance against Shields that would cement him as a clear contender. UFC President Dana White did not join in the criticism, but said the promotion would wait before deciding what was next for Hendricks.

“That’s the story of my life,” Lombard said. “I don’t know what the reason is, but since I started my career, they always criticize me. I dominate a guy, and I believe it was a beautiful performance. Fighting a guy like Jake Shields is very awkward and dangerous, as well. It means a lot to me, and it means a lot to dominate a guy like Jake Shields.”

Lombard said he had a very good reason for fighting the way he did against Shields, a grappling expert who frequently cancels out the skills of superior strikers.

“He always waits for the guys to get greedy, and when guys start throwing punches at him, he goes for the double-leg,” Lombard said. “And trust me, I know Jake is very, very heavy on top. People were telling me, ‘Please don’t let this guy get on top of you, because if he gets on top of you, he’s extremely heavy.’ So I didn’t want to create openings and get greedy with my striking, because when you go for the KO, you open yourself, and that’s when he finds openings and take you down.

“People don’t understand that. I’m glad that Dana White said it the way it is. He saw that it was a good fight, and he saw that I dominated a guy in every single area, which shut a lot of people’s mouths. But he said people are going to hate on me, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

What he can do is be vocal about his title worthiness, and keep active in the octagon so he can build a better case for fighting Hendricks. He cited a recently announced UFC Fight Night card set for June in San Antonio, Texas, as a good time to return to the cage.

As the UFC decides how the welterweight division shakes out, Lombard asks the promotion to consider his resume against others.

“I think they have to be fair,” he said. “It’s a lot of unfairness in the sport, and I really need them to give me a chance, because there’s a lot of hate for me.”

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